8ID tightens grip on EVRPC: 5 CNTs neutralized, 8 firearms seized amid intensified operations

By DPAO, 8ID PA
December 3, 2025

CAMP LUKBAN, Catbalogan City – The 8th Infantry (Stormtroopers) Division tightens its decisive campaign against the Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee (EVRPC) as combat operations in Northern Samar and sustained pressure in Leyte continue to break the enemy’s will to fight.

This comes after successive armed engagements on November 29, 2025 at Barangay Nipa, Palapag, Northern Samar when troops under the 803rd Infantry (Peacemakers) Brigade hit hard at the Sub-Regional Committee (SRC) Arctic of the Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee (EVRPC).

Acting on persistent civilian reports that armed Communist-NPA-Terrorists (CNTs) had been coercing farmers to surrender portions of their crops, government forces launched an assault on a fortified enemy hideout rigged with International Humanitarian Law–banned Anti-Personnel Mines (APMs).

The presence of the IHL-banned explosives compelled the troops to call for precision fire support that resulted in the killing of one CNT. Soldiers subsequently seized five high-powered firearms composed of three M16 rifles and two M14 rifles along with various war materiel after the short but intense firefight.

With CNT’s defensive line shattered, CNTs flee northwards of the encounter site which prompted the 78th Infantry “Warrior” Battalion of the 803rd Infantry (Peacemakers) Brigade to conduct relentless pursuit operations. Government forces successfully engaged the fleeing CNTs in two successive encounters that resulted in another CNT fatality and the seizure of an additional Cal. 45 pistol.

In a separate development, the 93rd Infantry (Bantay Kapayapaan) Battalion under the 802nd Infantry (Peerless) Brigade reported the voluntary surrender of three CNTs including one High Value Individual on November 30, 2025. Their surrender is a direct result of the intensified Division-wide combat and security operation to end the insurgency in Eastern Visayas.

The surrenderees also turned over two Cal. 45 pistols. Of the three CNTs who yielded to the government forces, alias “Alon,” former Commanding Officer of Front 41 of the Island Committee (IC) Levox, admits that the EVRPC’s current state has been desperate as CNT’s will to fight is constantly challenged by military operations. He further claims that the EVRPC’s mobility is restricted and the once-claimed “mass bases” are now rejecting their presence due to repeated extortion, intimidation, and failed ideological promises.